IMPRESSIVE red kites – chosen by the BBC for its new image – were made by two workers at leading Soham company, Flexifoil International. Jeannie Bowers and Linda Parr are the only remaining seamstresses employed at the company s Regal Drive headquarters s

IMPRESSIVE red kites - chosen by the BBC for its new image - were made by two workers at leading Soham company, Flexifoil International.

Jeannie Bowers and Linda Parr are the only remaining seamstresses employed at the company's Regal Drive headquarters since the rest of its manufacturing business was sent to China.

They were called upon to make the red kites, known as stings, which were filmed by the BBC and can now be seen across television screens nationwide.

"It was an amazing coincidence," said the company's managing director, Jeremy Pilkington. "The BBC was looking around the country for suitable places to film and contacted one of our retailers, Turbulence, in north Wales. We had made a set of red stings to test at Turbulence as a new product.

"It all seemed to fall into place. The kites were made in Soham along with all the control gear and flying ties and flown by Turbulence in Wales."

Now the kites will be seen on TV screens until at least 2010 raising awareness of kite flying as a sport.

The firm, which has been in business for 25 years and is the only UK company producing power kites, also works to promote the sport.

It has just developed a website to encourage kite flying in schools and the sport is being introduced to pupils across Suffolk, Lincoln and Leicester.

"Kites are a lot more professional these days in the way they are put together and theway they fly," added Jeremy. "They are much more sophisticated.